Brief clash with police, but no eviction for Occupy Berkeley

Craig Evans keeps watch as his wife sleeps in their tent at the Occupy Berkeley encampment in Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park in Berkeley, California, early Thursday, December 22, 2011. Photo by David Yee

By Frances Dinkelspiel and Judith Scherr

Under the threat of eviction, protestors at Occupy Berkeley took down about 40 tents in Civic Center Park Wednesday night, preparing for the raid that never came.

As a 10 pm deadline to stop camping in the park loomed, many activists were packing up their gear and loading it up on trucks. Some had stashed their possessions in a safe place, but had returned to the park to confront the police if they showed up. Soon, only about 29 out of about 70 tents remained.

“I’ve got my stuff packed but I’m not leaving,” a man who identified himself as Cincinnati said as the deadline loomed. “I’m going to take the streets.”